The Alaska Division of Forestry is seeking space at the Soldotna Airport to migrate its existing base. The division applied for a lease in April proposing new construction of a warehouse, firefighter standby space and an administrative building.
The division currently operates a base in Soldotna off the Sterling Highway near Birch Ridge Golf Course that includes a helicopter pad. It also has an air tanker reload base at the Kenai Municipal Airport and a firefighter outstation at the Homer Airport.
Jason Jordet is the fixed wing aviation manager for the state’s Division of Forestry and Fire Protection. He said Friday there are a few reasons why the division is seeking a change.
“There's been a significant change in the length and severity of our fire seasons in recent years,” he said. “The Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, along with all wildland firefighting agencies, are planning for the future and this new environment we work in.”
Another factor is planned safety improvements to the Sterling Highway between Sterling and Soldotna. That project’s officially known as the Sterling Highway Safety Corridor Project. The state previously considered expanding the highway, though project leads have said nothing is set in stone.
Expanding the highway would mean cutting into some of the existing parcels that jut up against the highway’s existing footprint. One of those parcels is the division’s existing Soldotna base. Jordet says the division would lose a large chunk of its property if the highway’s expanded.
“We are exploring long-term strategic options to help alleviate the losses of potential land,” he said.
He says the division’s interested in the Soldotna airport because it uses airports frequently with its helicopter, air tanker operations and logistics missions. Setting up shop at the airport would also give the division a more permanent operations base, he says, and offer more security for some of the division’s assets.
“It’s not really appropriate to have a $5 million helicopter parked on the side of the highway all evening long when, you know, people could be driving by and causing vandalism. It would be more appropriate to operate out of an airport,” he said.
The move to the airport isn’t official yet, though. Jordet says there’s still a lot that needs to happen. First, the city needs to approve the division’s lease application. The application was presented to members of Soldotna’s Airport Commission last week and must also be approved by the city council. The division would also need to secure funding from the Alaska Legislature.
In a worst case scenario, Jordet says the department will work with the cards it’s dealt. That means providing the same level of service, just with less land.
On Sunday, the Alaska Division of Forestry responded to smoke reported after lightning strikes near Watson Lake, by the western entrance of Skilak Lake Road. According to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, the division and Central Emergency Services responded to the fire, about one-tenth of an acre in size. Crews stopped the fire’s expansion by 5 p.m.
